Video from Pensacola Beach June 24th 2010

Gotta love the shining, spotless, brand new fluro jackets. Not like they've been employed just for the day or anything eh. With a front end loader like that I would say that they're not bulldozing but scooping it.. who knows if it's getting trucked out or not.

What are the fumes like? What do they smell like?

Great work OP! S+F These videos have a skyhigh credibility. Keep up the good work but DON'T get sick doing it!

I wish i could contribute some how but im stuck in europe, working for money as so many others.

this thing is so wrong, our children cannot even enjoy the beach anymore....

first vid is eh, second as well. Just when the 3rd looks to get interesting I'm met with more well yea eh.... oh well nice try. By the way dont take your kid somewhere you feel is a toxic hazard... I mean really wtf?

Originally posted by Seraphina
reply to post by baddmove

 

In my opinion yes the fumes were that bad. I'm experiencing a headache & a sore throat at the moment. It kind of reminds me of strep throat, my tonsils feel a little swollen. However it could be coincidence, but I tend to believe otherwise.

Seraphina, thanks for posting this, but you need a respirator to be out there. Those fumes are toxic. Please do NOT take your kid or kids out there.

Have you experienced any oil or toxic rain yet?

Astroved

reply to post by Seraphina


There's always dead sealife floating onto shore? Considering the billions of fish, seeing a few at the beach isn't surprising. And if it's alarming to you, stay clear away from the beaches when high tide goes out.



Doesn't seem like there's enough oil to create fumes, are you sure it smelled like oil?

I noticed in the 3rd video you took, at about 1:00. BP workers under a tent on the right side of the screen. Doing nothing.

This may be a bit off topic, but I recommend rinsing your nasal passages with a saline solution (with no other ingredients in it preferably) thoroughly, and drinking some warm fluids. I only say this because I'm extremely sensitive to any kind of gas fumes myself, and that's the only thing that helps me. Then again I also have bad allergies and asthma, so you may not have as hard a time from it as I do. But if you feel bad enough, that's what's always helped me.

Whenever I'm around gas fumes or tar I develop this sickly headache, a feeling of soreness in the back of my throat, and just a general feeling of being, well, for lack of a better term, polluted somehow.

reply to post by rightuos


Sorry they were not up to your standards.

reply to post by Astroved


Thanks for your concern. We do not live very far from the beach, it's literally in our back yard. I took my daughter there to show her first hand what was done to the beach, we had a great talk afterward. I really did not expect the fumes to be as strong as they were. The weren't too bad until we moved closer to Fort Pickens, which is the area of the last video.

[edit on 25-6-2010 by Seraphina]

This is the kind of first hand reporting that needs to be done. It's scary how little first hand reporting is coming out of L.A. and AL And MS and Fl in this day and age of youtube, twitter and facebook.

Nice work. Be aware that the fumes have long term effects. Get you children out of there, before things get violent.

reply to post by Rockpuck



The odor reminded me of exhaust/gas not motor oil per say, but yes I did experience it.
The workers are piling all the bags of oil that is collected into trucks parked by the entrance of these beaches, they are not airtight. There is oil in the water, and I believe UNDER the sand. I spoke with many people that noticed the fumes, I actually ran into many different friends while out there doing the same thing as me, documenting what is happening to our home.

reply to post by Seraphina


I think you are smelling some sulphur. There are many indications that the oil has some acidic levels. I'm concerned that the fumes you are breathing could be hydrogen sulfide, a very deadly gas usually associated with volcanos.

A PH reading of the oil/water would be a great help.

“Rotten Egg” Odor

• If you smell a “rotten egg” odor, you may be smelling
hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
• The levels of H2S that have been reported to
date may cause irritation, but as stated above,
these effects should go away when H2S levels go
down, or when a person leaves the area.
• While H2S is associated with oil and natural gas
extraction, it also comes from marshes and sewage
treatment plants. Because H2S has only been
seen at individual monitors on an infrequent basis,
this indicates the H2S is more likely from a local
source near the monitor rather than from the
oil spill. We do not know the exact source of H2S
in these areas.

“Gas Station-Like” Odor

• If you smell a ‘gas station’ like odor – the odor you
might smell while filling up your car – it may be
volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
• The key toxic VOCs in most oils are benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene, and xylene.

“Oily” or “Tar-Like” smell

• Information we have obtained to date indicates
that there are chemicals remaining in the weathered
oil known as semi-volatile organic compounds
(or SVOCs), and they are primarily responsible
for the “oily odors.”
• EPA is monitoring for VOCs onshore to quantify the
amounts of SVOCs in the air to determine if any
might be present at unsafe levels. These data are
posted at www.epa.gov/bpspill/air.html.
• As we get information about specific SVOCs, we
will provide additional information about potential
health concerns related to these compounds.

www.epa.gov...

[edit on 25-6-2010 by OurskiesRpoisoned]

[edit on 25-6-2010 by OurskiesRpoisoned]

reply to post by SneakAPeek


We spoke to many people that were upset that the workers appeared to be doing nothing. OSHA has set standards that take into account the heat index and the humidity levels of workers concerning work/rest ration.
There have to be adequate breaks or these guys would be dropping like flies with heat exhaustion & possibly heat stroke.
I used to live in California, so while temps in the 90's might not seem that extreme to those of you on the West Coast, or other areas with low humidity, unless you've experienced it, you couldn't imagine how hot it really is with the higher humidity. It is literally like being in a Sauna.

reply to post by OurskiesRpoisoned


Could you get a ph reading with a standard pool ph kit?

Originally posted by Seraphina
reply to post by OurskiesRpoisoned

 

Could you get a ph reading with a standard pool ph kit?

Sure. Although not scientific, it would give us an indication. Let me explain my concern.

A year ago we wrote about a death of a San Jose teenager from poisoning by hydrogen sulfide gas, or H2S. At the time, I had hypothesized that the death might have been from an attempt at synthesizing methamphetamine gone awry.

But while one can mistakenly generate hydrogen sulfide gas from improper meth synthesis, I soon learned that intentional suicides with H2S is an increasing US trend imported from Japan. One can easily mix commonly-available consumer products to generate the gas and high enough concentrations can cause death. The gas acts in a manner similar to cyanide by binding to the heme in cytochrome c oxidase and inhibiting electron transport and ATP production by oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. (Interestingly, small amounts of H2S are made in the body and is being investigated as a neurotransmitter and biological modulator.)

So deadly is hydrogen sulfide that it is considered a major occupational safety hazard for workers in municipal sewage services, industrial manure management on factory farms, and the growing aquaculture industry - the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric administration provides detailed background and training videos here.

scienceblogs.com...


Another thing. Increased levels of hydrogen sulfide indicates a volcanic eruption nearing, if this is an actual volcano.

[edit on 25-6-2010 by OurskiesRpoisoned]

Why is this a surprise?

Been way too long with no action, worst is yet to come

Originally posted by OurskiesRpoisoned
This is the kind of first hand reporting that needs to be done. It's scary how little first hand reporting is coming out of L.A. and AL And MS and Fl in this day and age of youtube, twitter and facebook.

Nice work. Be aware that the fumes have long term effects. Get you children out of there, before things get violent.

You won't find much of this kind of first hand reporting in the areas of LA that are most effected, quite frankly, cause we are not allowed to go there. I live in LA. The closest beach to me is called Holly Beach. It is just South West of Lake Charles, LA. If you look at a map of the coast, it is just a stone's throw away from a town called Cameron. You can still hit the beach in Cameron (which I will never understand why anyone would want to even PRIOR to the leak) and thus far to my understanding there is still no sign of the leak in this area, (although the first chance I get I plan to hit the coast and do some of my own, probably silly, experiments) there have been no signs of a diesel smell or anything that I keep hearing about. With that being said, I have been noticing a very strange smell (though it does not remind me of gas or oil) in the air immediately after it rains. I am one hour from the Gulf. Most of our storms come directly off the Gulf and move North before they turn a bit and head Northeast. Ever since I heard about one single oil plume (about 20 miles across) that moved West from the site of the rig, I have been very alert, and I have been noticing this smell. Very faint as of a week or two ago when I first noticed it, the last few days it has been obvious. However, as I said in another thread a few weeks ago, there are plenty of factories in this area so I am not so quick to blame the leak, but I have lived here for close to 2 years now and I know how the weather works, how things smell, and what is "normal" for this area. Lately, I am noticing things outside of the "norm".

What most people who not live here realize is that it rains here VERY VERY often. It is very common to have a quick storm form up and move from the ocean to land. If you keep off hours from the "normal" people, (which I do) you can watch it first hand. Out of nowhere with no warning, it will just rain. It will rain pretty hard at times, then it will come to an end. You wouldn't even know it happened if you didn't see a puddle here or there and notice your lawn is wet. t is also very hot, very humid, and those same puddles will dry up in no time at all. In other words, it can rain and if you didn't catch it you wouldn't know it happened.

Knowing how things are in this area, hearing all the local talk, knowing that it is almost next to impossible to get to the areas that are most effected. I see the things that are being filmed in Florida and how disturbing it is, and I already know it has to be much much worse in the areas closest to the leak. Areas starting from the middle of the state of LA, South of New Orleans (The rig was 50 miles South of NO) and moving more towards the East, the direction the gulf steam moves, which includes the beaches of Mississippi and Alabama. That is simply common sense.

Seraphina,

Thanks for the outstanding work. I'll be heading back to Pensacola this next week and will also try to go down and film some of what's happening at the beach. I have access to respirators so I'll make sure I'm protected.

As for the "cleaning" crews...

www.pnj.com...

I've heard from numerous friends and family that those crews mainly consist of 9 guys standing around watching one guy clean, while taking the time to gawk at women in bikinis and smoking cigarettes in the shade.

Keep up the reporting Sera, stay safe.

GBD

Originally posted by Seraphina
reply to post by SneakAPeek

 

We spoke to many people that were upset that the workers appeared to be doing nothing. OSHA has set standards that take into account the heat index and the humidity levels of workers concerning work/rest ration.
There have to be adequate breaks or these guys would be dropping like flies with heat exhaustion & possibly heat stroke.
I used to live in California, so while temps in the 90's might not seem that extreme to those of you on the West Coast, or other areas with low humidity, unless you've experienced it, you couldn't imagine how hot it really is with the higher humidity. It is literally like being in a Sauna.

Yet the people in this area still manage to work doing Construction and Factory work. The people in this area are very accustomed to the heat and humidity. When I first moved here I could not even mow the yard in this heat, even late in the afternoon. However, my neighbors could.

I can go down the street right now and see guys working in one of the local oil refineries. These guys are covered head to toe in heavy clothing to prevent burns, doing work on the side of the stack. These stacks are hot. Hundreds of degrees hot. It can be 100 degrees outside and they are still trucking along like it's nothing. It still amazes me even now. I couldn't do it. Yet the locals here, who have been here for their whole lives, do it day in and day out and to them it is "normal".

Those workers who were not doing squat in the video, are doing that same thing for most of their time. It is no secret to anyone who lives in this state. When you see those workers, maybe 20 people, keep in mind that's the amount of workers assigned to cover 100 miles of the coast line. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know that, that many people can not possible clean up that amount of coast line in anything remotely considered an acceptable time frame.

What I take from the video the OP posted is this... if they are using heavy machinery to clean up areas that the public can still gain access to, it has to be a million times worse in the areas closer to my home where no one from the public is allowed to access.